2008 Model Legislature

November 28 / 29, 2008 in Legislative Chamber, Edmonton

Each November, ADSA sponsors a Model Legislature in the Legislative Assembly in Edmonton. The event is open to students in Grades 10-12 with spaces for 82 students (equivalent to the number of seats in the Legislative Chamber). Preference is given to Grades 11-12. Forty (40) seats are reserved for Calgary students. For the 2008 session, there were over 140 students who registered.

The 2008 Organizing Committee consisted of:

Other individuals that assisted:

On Friday night, the Speakers, Greg Harlow and Spence Nichol, explained parliamentary procedure and decorum in the House. The 82 students were then divided into political parties and attended caucuses led by Jennifer Huygen, Kristen Pue, Michaela Mann and Ashvin Singh, who explained the procedure to be followed on Saturday, as well as an explanation of the three Bills:

PC – Alberta agenda for defense against crime act.
Liberal – Widespread, accessible specialized training and education act.
NDP – Tar sands provincialization act

 

Saturday began with the 2 MLAs, Kevin Taft and Fred Horne addressing the students in the House. Both emphasized the importance of democracy and the need to be aware of how laws were made in the House. The students then broke up into Parties and the 2 MLAs assisted the students in interpreting the Bills they would be debating. The remainder of Saturday's session was devoted to the students debating the 3 Bills.

The procedure in the Model Legislature is the same as the procedure in a regular Legislature and gives the students a "feel" for how things are actually done by the MLAs. They debate motions and learn about parliamentary process, citizenship, leadership, responsibility, confident public speaking and critical and logical thought.

At the conclusion of the Model Legislature, the students themselves choose the best Parliamentarian of each Party. Chosen as Top Parliamentarians were:

Finally, the Organizing Committee chose the Overall Top Parliamentarian, and winner of The 2008 Premier's Cup. This year the winner is:

Schools that participated in the 2008 Model Legislature were: Archbishop MacDonald, Harry Ainlay, Henry Wise Wood, , Old Scona, Ross Sheppard, Strathcona, Strathmore, Tempo, Victoria School of Performing Arts and William Aberhart.